the Speedo cable is very close to that cross brace, but I got mine in. My Tach is 115mm dia, so I had to lower both my side gauges down slightly to still "fit" ok. But I still got the speedo cable in ok. I don't know if the gauges are the same as yours, but I can measure from say the bottom of my dash to the top of the Speedo gauge and give you the measurement. I think my speedo and combo are 110 mm dia.

Fuel.
The current sender is not lekker, I'd say it's shot, but I do get some basic reading on the fuel gauge. It flickers between half and 1/4.. I then almost brimmed the tank and the needle goes to 3/4 but not full, so it's not 100%.
I have bought a generic sender and gauge from the UK for 22 pounds which is' 100% accurate, but, I'm not ready yet to pull out the gauge AGAIN and then fit this gauge into my Combo gauge. The Sender allows you to adjust it in a multitude of angles and ways. I got it to fit perfectly, and work with it's own gauge, but it does nothing to the existing gauge, so, I'll have to whip out the combo to modify and fit this gauge to get a good working fuel setup.

Car's running perfectly now, but jaa, the stock beetle suspension leaves much to be desired at speed. Enter a "MUST HAVE" gadget called a "Camber Compensator" from FFR. According to Mr Z, this is a must have. So I bought it. Then a pile of things happened. The one urethane mounting on the end of the strut snapped the bolt when I was assembling. Dave doesn't have any to replace, so I bought two flat pads with mounting bolts from Pro Auto Rubber.. Bolts are 12 mm.. Holes in Spring Steel are 10 or 8 mm. Blew out 5 or 6 drill bits trying to drill the strut.. Fookit. Took them back to pro Auto, and they are making me new ones, copying the Sideshaft support that came with the kit. Should be ready by Friday.

Before I fit that tho, I have to replace the sideshaft Boots, which I collected from Tony last weekend. So, I need to drain box oil, fit new boots, then top up oil and clean up area, then mount the bracket which holds the strut on, as it covers the tranny drain plug.. thus the sequence.

Also started prepping the roof build. A Little nerve wracking cutting small holes in a 12 thousand rand Soft Top.. But all good. Will carry on sometime soon.

and the other mod was to retro-fit the new Fuel Gauge and sender unit I got in the UK, as the one in the tank is shite, and the gauge is poked. At the same time, I replaced the Speedo Cable which snapped on the way to Mr Z's place, at 355 km's on the clock, as I was about to pull over for a legendary photo.. That will happen this weekend.

Also fitted replaced 12 Volt LED's into the gauges and wired them up. almost done with the retro fit of the fuel gauge, which should be done shortly, and then the last gauge can go back in and it's all completed.

The VERY Adjustable sender unit.

Fuel gauge comparison.

The left is the plate that fits into the porsche Combo gauge, the right is the new Sender unit.. Almost identical components, so retro-fit is pretty easy.

The Biz side of the fuel gauge.

Combo gauge with LED's fitted, waiting for Fuel gauge.

The scrap yard...

So, should all be completed this weekend, and ready for the Heritage Day ride to the Castle in Cape Town next week.

I was also advised to go with a camber compensator did lots of reading on this subject very interesting and very educational. Good decision to go with the rear camber compensator, any future plans for a front sway bar?

What is your plans for the soft top support ...scissor or plain two bow fold down?

Tony reckons it's probably one of the best additions we can fit to these cars. I have a huge amount of 'oval roll" for want of a better word.. Round a longish corner with say expansion joints like a highway, I don't have only up and down, but left to right, and this all added together feels like an oval sensation.. With the Camber Compensator on, which provides upward pressure all the time, the sideshaft cannot swing down much, if anything, so it tightens up the rear end completely. it's not necessary to have a front bar as well, but I don't think I'll need one, the front is now pretty much perfect.

I'll make a little mod to this kit by fitting a wrap over piece of thick rubber and bolting it to the bottom of each pad on the strut. This keeps the sideshaft connected to the strut, and tightens down the entire rear end. Having gone for a Spin in Tony's "Angrrr", fitted with a compensator, even up in the 180, 190 Km/h range on a pretty shitty road, it made the car feel very secure and stable.. It's a must have.
The ONLY downside is it is mounted to the bracket on the bottom of the gearbox with a little more ground clearance being taken away, so it's getting tight under there now..

As for the roof, it's going to be a 2 bow only with a fold in hinge to get the bows etc into the rear area. I will very seldom, IF EVER, put the roof up and use the car like that, it's purely to finish the car off, and tick the box saying "does it have a roof". yes..
I doubt even if I'll leave it in the car.. I'll see when it's done. Right now, i can't get a taught finish with the hoops I have, but then, I haven't attached it to the front bow yet..This I'll take my time with as it's not something I need on the car..

You also won't be able to use the stock bars for the roof as they are about 20-30mm too short. I made new ones and then just stashed the old ones away in the garage. Ask Manny, the frame and material on mine is so taught that you can bounce a coin off the roof.

Flat Four Racing sells them for just under 2 K. I apparently took his last stock unit, but as one of the bolts sheared, Dave's going to order replacements, so I'm sure he'll also order in another kit or two.
The Spring Steel bar is a VERY serious piece of kit, and the fabrication on the urethane parts and brackets is excellent.

Thanks for the feedback on the hoops. I saw Mangosmoothie's dimensions last weekend and realized these are a little small. Another reason I'll take my time on this, as there's fabrication needed as you know.

Yup, I don't know if its the top that he has, but a lot of things need a bit of tweaking locally to work the same way. His write-up makes it all look so easy where in fact, it's far from it. I take my hat off to that guy.

Bloody Test cables!!!
That RED cable with the Aligator clip on above, man did that stuff me around.. Dis-assembled and re-assembled this fuel gauge twice last night, 3 hours of delay because THAT bastard aligator clip had a sucking joing under the rubber boot.. So I ended up cutting it into little pieces while swearing non-stop!

2nd thing I don't know about, but the Oil and gen light circuit does not like LED's.. I have read that the Gen light is part of the circuit, so it obviously needs to have a certain ohmage rating, which the LED's don't have. So I removed the LED's for those two, although they weren't really needed as the bulbs are great. So essentially, the Brights, Indicators and 4 surround LEDS are fitted, 6 in total. There's not much going on behind these gauges really. The Combo gauge doesn't even have a surround light.

Anyway, the Combo gauge went back in and all three gauges are now fitted with the rear locking braces in place, so sturdy, straight and permanent. Tonight I'll hopefully be able to swing across the Fuel Sender unit, and it hopefully works.. Then the Rubber Boots and lastly, the new Strut back on. almost finished with the small updates I needed to finish.

Got all the gauges in and sorted. Connected fuel gauge to new sender unit, working 100%.. FINALLY, I have a working fuel gauge.. (Yes, this is a huge triumph in a kit car peeps..) Recovered the two panels for under the dash and refitted them, so, essentially, that's the interior completed 100%.
Knackered, so will do the sideshafts tomorrow.

Couldn't wait, so got in, drained the tranny, and got the driver's side boot off and new one on.. OH MY FU%#!.. Another REALLY shitty job.. scale of 1 to 10, this is an 8 for sure..

Anyway, got one side done, will do other side tomorrow, and then fill up the tranny, and clean. Then it's done. LAST mechanical job then, refit the Camber Compensator bracket, and hopefully will collect the pads and fit the strut.. Then done..

Always a good feeling knowing I'm moving forward and slowly but surely ironing out all the issues, and replacing so much with NEW equipment.. Nice peace of mind.

cheers.

Last edited by acpaterson on Wed Sep 17, 2014 10:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.